Jennifer Herr
IGK Hair
Irvine, CA USA
"There is some degree of tenacity involved in [overcoming personal obstacles]. I think that is something innate within me. I’ve learned to just handle things on my own."
Career Roadmap
Jennifer's work combines: Design, Art, and Being Creative
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Graphic Design
The Art Institute of California-Orange County
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Director of Creative & Content:
Bachelor's Degree: Graphic Design
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Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
My favorite class in high school was AP Art History. My parents weren’t really involved in my schooling, so I didn't have a lot of guidance when it came to applying for college.
2.
Attended CSULB as an art history major, but dropped out and decided to go back to community college to take different types of classes and figure out what I wanted to do.
3.
Changed my major a few times—I decided to go to school for illustration, but after falling in love with typography classes, I decided to pursue graphic design.
4.
Graduated from the Art Institute of California-Orange County in 2008—the financial crisis made finding full-time work difficult.
5.
I managed to get work through a creative temp agency and worked at 15-20 companies over the course of a year—this gave me the opportunity to see different industries and office styles.
6.
Landed a full-time graphic design job at Too Faced Cosmetics, which I had freelanced for through the placement agency.
7.
Worked my way up in the company to become the creative director managing a team of 30 employees.
8.
I’m now working as the director of creative and content for the small beauty industry startup, IGK Hair.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I don't have any support. I'm not going to be successful.
How I responded:
I didn't have a lot of support from friends and family on my journey. Looking at my situation, I probably shouldn't have been successful. I think there is some amount of tenacity involved. I feel like that is a trait that is kind of innate to me. I've just always handled things on my own.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My parents weren’t super involved in my school and I was on my own for college applications and tuition. I was forced to figure things out on my own.
I could barely afford to apply to college and only really thought about going to a local state school. I went to a community college for a while to save money before eventually going to design school.
In college, I started out as an art history major. Then, I dropped out and went to a community college where I cycled through majors in chemistry and studio art before settling on graphic design.
I graduated from college during the 2008 financial crisis, which made finding work almost impossible. I ended up working through a temp agency and cycled through jobs at between 15-20 companies in the span of a year.